Wilmington, NC News

Archive for December, 2011

COLUMBIA, SC (AP) — Two South Carolina legislators say state employees shouldn’t have to answer the phone with Gov. Nikki Haley’s mandated cheery greeting unless it’s truly a great day in South Carolina.

Democratic state Reps. John Richard King and Wendell Gilliard have filed legislation saying no state agency can force its employees to answer the phone with, “It’s a great day in South Carolina,” as long as state unemployment is 5 percent or higher. Their bill also would prohibit requiring the greeting as long as all South Carolinians don’t have health insurance.

At a September meeting, Haley ordered her Cabinet agencies to embrace the greeting, saying it could help change the mood of state government. A Haley spokesman says the Republican governor stands by the greeting.—Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP

BALTIMORE (AP) — Friends and family in Maryland and North Carolina are marking one year since the disappearance of a teen who was later found dead.

Sixteen-year-old Phylicia Barnes of Monroe disappeared from a relative’s apartment in Baltimore on Dec. 28, 2010. In April, workers at the Conowingo Dam spotted her body in the Susquehanna River, about an hour’s drive north of the city.

Barnes’s death was ruled a homicide, but the cause of death was not released. State police said last week that investigators have made progress, but no one has been charged in the case.

Family and friends plan a rally for Barnes and other missing people at a Baltimore church on Wednesday night. The school Barnes attended in North Carolina is marking the anniversary by planting a memorial garden.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Shoppers of a popular department store across the country had an interesting sight this morning. Mothers went to their local Target stores, including here in Wilmington, for a nurse-in.

This national “nurse-in” all started with one woman in Houston, but moms sent the message here in Wilmington that it is OK to breastfeed in public.

“If you like to feed your baby in public, it should be OK,” Rica Stinson said. “It’s best for baby. It’s best for mom.”

Stinson is one of the more than a dozen Cape Fear mothers who greeted Target guests as they entered the store Wednesday morning.

This nurse-in was just one of many across the nation, as a show of support for the Texas mom who claims she was hassled by Target employees for feeding her baby.

“That’s one of the reason we’re here is to offer our services to educate employees and other people and let them know that you can’t treat people that way,” Stinson said.

Mom Emily Barnhill, “It takes a lot of mother and mother support, and even though none of us know the mother in Texas, it’s just a matter of everyone kind of pulling together and saying it is OK, don’t feel bad about it and everyone has to feed their babies.”

Target welcomed demonstrations like this one in Wilmington. The store has made it clear to mothers that its policy has always supported breastfeeding

“As a family-oriented retailer, Target has always supported breastfeedings and mothers that choose to do so,” store manager Matt Merritt said. “Any mother in our facilities can do that, and that is our policy. We welcome it and are certainly open to it.”

While these mothers are all for nursing in public, a few shoppers who did not want to go on-camera did not agree with the practice. But other shoppers who are also moms applaud the national nurse-in.

“They’re just trying to feed their babies,” shopper Becky Graves said. “Just like you’re hungry and you eat a snack — you’re out in public. You have you’re baby, you have to feed them when they’re hungry.”

Another mother, Holly Bigness, said, “I love breastfeeding. He’s my second that I have nursed, and it’s ready and available any time any where they need to feed. You always got it with you. There’s no bottles to juggle or formula to mix.”

Despite the turnout, every mother we spoke with at the nurse-in said they have never run into a problem breastfeeding at the Target store here in Wilmington.